The plot is made up of the key moments from her 10th year, the year her parents divorced and she and her older sister started at a new school, the only Jews in a WASPy suburb somewhere in New Hampshire. Besides her sister we meet her mother, father and paternal grandmother, each of whom carries enough baggage to easily sink her adolescent lifeboat; her mother's bedridden anxiety, her father's epic philandering and compulsive adultery, her grandmother's chronic alcoholism. The boat remains afloat because Sarah's indomitable character uses all the simmering sadness to fuel her quirky resilience. In one number she turns a group of girls at her new school into her pose by performing celebrity impressions. Impressions of their farts! Her own Achilles' Tendon is her nocturnal urination. At one point during a sleepover she is tenuously close to being found out, when suddenly the news of John Lennon's assassination save the day! But eventually, her new friends discover the truth and she is cast into a deep depression where drugs flow in her direction and suddenly she's dreaming of dancing Xanax and joining in performing a frenetic Rockette's inspired dance line. Her mother's obsession with TV and her fathers ubiquitous presence on it featured in adds for his discount clothing store weave a how of personalities in and out the events from Phil Donahue to Johnny Carson, and in particular Miss New Hampshire. It's in one of these surrealistic moments that Sarah discovers a truth about the beauty pageant runner-up that transforms her life and restores her equilibrium.
This is not "The Bedwetter's" first time at the Rodeo. Originally produced Off-Broadway, the reception was tepid. And eerily like the main character herself, Sarah picked the show up, got an additional lyricist & composer and set to work tightening, clarifying, adding in a couple of new numbers, taking on at least one current Broadway A-lister, Shoshana Bean to play her mother. From the start, you are captivated by the young actor playing Sarah, Aria Kane, who explodes with energy and charm and quirkiness. With a total cast of eleven, and the rapid-fire nature of the scene changes there is a flow to the production that makes no room for error. Everyone was on cue, and everyone, in one way or another, had a "their moment" in the show, too. A nod to the generosity of the creator. If profanity's not your thing, then don't go. If, however, you enjoy little shows about big ideas with a generous heart--go. It may never make it to Broadway, but I promise it will create a spot in your heart.
Sarah (Aria Kane) with her new teacher Mrs. Dembo (Alysha Umphress)
Her older sister, Laura (Avery Harris) and mother Beth Ann (Shoshana Bean)
Sarah with father, Donald (Darren Goldstein)
And her Nana (Liz Larsen)
Shoshana Bean performing perhaps the most poignant number in the show "You Can't Fix Her."
Sarah on the phone at her friend's sleep-over. L-R (Emerson Holt Lacayo, Elin Joy Seiler, and Alina Santos)
Miss New Hampshire (Ashley Blanchet)
